The World Environment Day 2018 is aptly themed ‘Beat plastic pollution’ as this useful man-made commodity is posing one of the biggest environmental hazards of the 21^st Century.

Although recycling can help reduce the amount of garbage that ends up in landfills, waterways and ecosystems, only few types of plastics can be recycled by most municipal governments. The fraction that does get recycled still requires a lot of energy and water which just isn’t a good proposition when it comes to single-use items. Plastic garbage that ends up in landfills and oceans take hundreds of years to degrade, and there’s increasing concern about the toxins they release into the environment.

However a life without plastic is hard to imagine?

Plastic today is used in every field from the mundane disposable coffee cups to complex innovations. Therefore a complete ban on plastics is unreasonable, what needs to be focused upon is to reduce single-use plastics and a more sustainable management of plastic waste.

There is waste management and there is plastic waste management to be precise. Even when waste management is a pressing concern for the administration the latter poses the most challenge as it needs a different approach all together. Without addressing this issue, there is not much meaning to waste management.

In the past the capital administration had made several ‘abortive’ attempts to ban plastic use especially in the form of carry bags. However, doing so has been no easy feat and after a short time period the administrations order loses steam faced with an incorrigible populace.

Plastics make up for almost ninety percent of the garbage of the capital complex. With no concrete solid waste management plan, the administration is seemingly helpless to tackle the menace. There is a need to create awareness among the people and market bodies must also be taken onboard to dissuade especially single- use plastic among the business community.

This is one field where individual effort can make a huge difference. Reducing single-use plastic at an individual level might seem trivial but when over a lakh capital dwellers practice this; the impact would be nothing less than profound.

 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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